Friday, November 20, 2015

"Gobbling" Water This Thanksgiving

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater FoundationAh, Thanksgiving, One of my favorite holidays. Why? It centers around a delicious meal, family, and appreciating the blessings in our lives.We don't often think about the water footprint of a large meal like a traditional Thanksgiving dinner spread - turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce. And wine, of course. But think big picture about the amount of water required to produce that meal - from the water used to grow the vegetables to the amount needed to feed/house/process the turkey. Some estimates:

Turkey requires roughly 468 gallons of water per pound; so a 20 pound bird takes 9,360 gallons of water.

Canned cranberry sauce takes 1,559 gallons to produce and hold the shape of the can when it's removed.

And a close second - wine, which takes between 50 and 75 gallons for one 8 ounce glass (depending on where the wine is produced/shipped).

This doesn't even factor in other Thanksgiving staples, like stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, or pumpkin pie!

It really is astonishing when you think about the "hidden" water in the foods we eat. Of course, we don't suggest skipping Thanksgiving dinner, but explore about ways you can shrink the water footprint of your meal: